Scouting strategy for 19

[snellman]

What is your scouting strategy? I have tried a couple different ways, but seem to end up with way too many unscouted players. I currently have my scouts scout positions until each one says all of the prospects have been found, then I start assigning them to individual players. By the time my pick in the second round comes around I am already down to players I haven't scouted at all.

[kinsmen7]

I personally do 1 day of scouting for every pitcher type, then follow up with 1 day of the following:
Catcher:
-Batting/Arm Strength
-Batting/Power
-Batting/Fielding

Infielders:
-Batting/Speed
-Batting/Power
-Batting/Fielding

Outfielder:
-Batting/Speed
-Batting/Power
-Batting/Fielding

It's probably more efficient to spend more time scouting the types for more than 1 day, but I seem to have a good number of targets that I can scout completely. The one thing that I do find is that if I spend too much time scouting, I thump the CPU during my drafts.

[Ace1234NY]

I've never even got to a point where the game told me there were no more prospects to find. So my guess is you're doing too much discovering. I kind of make it up on the fly. But I try to give it a few days for each search, hitting outfielders, inflielders, and pitchers in each region. Prospects are most efficient searching in their own region, so that might help speed things up a bit. Last time I did it I ran out of scouted prospects by the last couple of rounds, but by then it's kind of a crapshoot anyway so I didn't see it as a problem.

[sccavs64]

I feel like I've gotten this down to a science. Except for year 1 of the franchise where all of the prospects are new, I always am finished scouting a few weeks before the draft. Here's what I do:

Hire one good scout in each region - I generally focus on the scout's batters/pitchers scouting ratings and efficiency. I honestly don't know what the "discovery" rating for scouts does.

I have my scouts discover at each batting position (Catcher, Infield, Outfield) in their respective region first. I save the pitchers for last. I have my scouts discover until there are no more prospects to discover, and then move to the next position.

Always remember each prospect's current ratings for each attribute when you view their player card are 100% accurate. The only information you don't know until a player is fully scouted is their potential (both overall potential, and potential of each attribute). So I only scout players that have high current ratings (Generally an attribute rating of 55+ = a "high" rating, while an attribute rating of 25 or less is just awful). The prospects with low current ratings take longer to develop and are generally more risky, so I generally stay away from them. They might not progress fully at all due to the way the game progresses players in comparison to their age.

For prospects that have a handful of high current ratings, I just look at the spread of the attribute ratings and ask myself whether this player can find a home in my infield or outfield. Example - A LF with great hitting attributes, great fielding attributes, but has a weak arm could be valuable at 2B. While a player with great hitting attributes, poor fielding and throwing attributes, will more than likely be a DH only.

So, after all the batting prospects are discovered, I look at every single player card, find the players at each position with high current ratings, and then scout them 100%. These players with high current ratings and high potential are your top-tier prospects. It's annoying to look at each player card individually, but it's easy to spot potential top prospects by looking at the graphs.

Since I find it easy to acquire pitchers via trade, free agency, and through the draft, I save the pitchers for last. Once all the position players that are intriguing are scouted, I repeat the steps above for pitchers. I generally have about 6-7 weeks left to scout, so I let my scouts discover for 3-4 weeks, and then scout the pitchers with high current ratings.

Doing this, I go into each draft knowing who the top ~20 players are. I rank them in an excel file and hope they fall to me

[cripes]

So the current specific ratings (i.e. contact, power, speed) don't change from before to after you scout them 100%? Seems like a glitch because I know their current overall varies significantly from before and after you scout.

[sccavs64]

Quote: Originally Posted by cripes

So the current specific ratings (i.e. contact, power, speed) don't change from before to after you scout them 100%? Seems like a glitch because I know their current overall varies significantly from before and after you scout.

Correct - The player’s total overall rating changes, but the player’s current ratings for each attribute is 100% accurate before you scout.

Been this way for the last couple iterations of the game. Wish it wasn’t that way.

[MEL12170]

Quote: Originally Posted by sccavs64

I feel like I've gotten this down to a science. Except for year 1 of the franchise where all of the prospects are new, I always am finished scouting a few weeks before the draft. Here's what I do: Hire one good scout in each region - I generally focus on the scout's batters/pitchers scouting ratings and efficiency. I honestly don't know what the "discovery" rating for scouts does. I have my scouts discover at each batting position (Catcher, Infield, Outfield) in their respective region first. I save the pitchers for last. I have my scouts discover until there are no more prospects to discover, and then move to the next position. Always remember each prospect's current ratings for each attribute when you view their player card are 100% accurate. The only information you don't know until a player is fully scouted is their potential (both overall potential, and potential of each attribute). So I only scout players that have high current ratings (Generally an attribute rating of 55+ = a "high" rating, while an attribute rating of 25 or less is just awful). The prospects with low current ratings take longer to develop and are generally more risky, so I generally stay away from them. They might not progress fully at all due to the way the game progresses players in comparison to their age. For prospects that have a handful of high current ratings, I just look at the spread of the attribute ratings and ask myself whether this player can find a home in my infield or outfield. Example - A LF with great hitting attributes, great fielding attributes, but has a weak arm could be valuable at 2B. While a player with great hitting attributes, poor fielding and throwing attributes, will more than likely be a DH only. So, after all the batting prospects are discovered, I look at every single player card, find the players at each position with high current ratings, and then scout them 100%. These players with high current ratings and high potential are your top-tier prospects. It's annoying to look at each player card individually, but it's easy to spot potential top prospects by looking at the graphs. Since I find it easy to acquire pitchers via trade, free agency, and through the draft, I save the pitchers for last. Once all the position players that are intriguing are scouted, I repeat the steps above for pitchers. I generally have about 6-7 weeks left to scout, so I let my scouts discover for 3-4 weeks, and then scout the pitchers with high current ratings. Doing this, I go into each draft knowing who the top ~20 players are. I rank them in an excel file and hope they fall to me

Thanks for this break down

[garry1221]

Hire the most efficient scout in each area. Some say high discovery rate is best, but I like having higher pitch/pos rating, as they're typically more accurate.

I spend 10 days on pitchers. 5 days each hand. Typically change attribute between hands, and alternate regions. I've found Command, Velocity and Clutch find the best pitchers. Movement seems to get long term projects more than almost ready arms. I typically alternate years, Command/Velocity, Clutch/Command.

3 or 4 days on catchers. Alternating between field/AS and Con/Pow.

10 days on IF and OF. 5 days each, scouting F/Spd, Con/Pow.

This leaves just over a month to scout individual players. I'm typically left with 44 days before the draft. I scout all 80 and 75 OVR unless they're under 70 potential. When I'm down to 70 OVR, i go strictly by highest Potential. This method typically gets me through the 4th round with fully scouted players. Scout no more than 3 days at a time, which will yield ~60 players fully scouted. Once the meter turns green, he's scouted enough to be considered fully scouted. If your scouts aren't efficient it'll take longer and you fully scout less. 70 efficiency is the lowest I'll go. Its offline.. If scout choice sucks, I'll reload if I just started the franchise.

You will never find every player in the draft. The Discovery rating dictates what % of players you discover in that 1st month in each scout's region. (Low disc international scout still finds a ton of prospects).

Tbh, I've just started turning auto scouting on and I can still pick gems even though it doesn't scout as fully, and I see more players at least partially scouted.